US imposes sanctions on Iran for Internet censorship

Iran's Communications Minister and Culture Ministry are targeted, among others.

US government officials have been calling out Iran on its harsh treatment of bloggers and journalists for some time now. Now the US State Department is trying to put some teeth into those condemnations.

The department announced sanctions against four Iranian individuals, along with five Iranian "entities"—government agencies and private companies. The sanctioned organizations have all limited access to media, by jamming satellite broadcasts and "restricting Internet connectivity." They've also censored and closed newspapers, detained and even tortured journalists according to the State Department.

The sanctioned agencies include the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the country's Press Supervisory Board, and the Center to Investigate Organized Crime, which helps "identify Internet users who published material insulting government officials," the AFP reports. Communications Minister Reza Taghipour has been personally cited.

Two Iranian software companies are being sanctioned as well: AmnAfzar Gostar-e Sharif, and PeykAsa, along with their founder Rasool Jalili. The companies monitor Iranian Web traffic and block access to Facebook, eBay, and YouTube.

All the sanctioned people and entities will have any US assets frozen.

The US wants to stop the "Iranian government from creating an 'electronic curtain' to cut Iranian citizens off from the rest of the world," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The AFP report on today's sanctions also describes a recent act of somewhat ham-handed censorship by Iranian officials, who accidentally blocked Gmail when they were trying to censor only YouTube.

"Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services," said Mohammad Reza Miri, an official charged with filtering the Internet in Iran. "We wanted to block YouTube and Gmail was also blocked, which was involuntary. We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible."

50 Reader Comments

Iran blocks portions of internet based on a religious belief of almost 100% of the population. Sure in the modern world it is not a popular thing to do, but as a Muslim I can attest to it that they are right in their own rules.On the other hand the US government actively tries to cripple the internet or help do it in favor of RIAA, MPAA and the so called 1%. And in the process of doing so constantly violates people's rights that they claim to and are tasked to uphold.

I just wonder......

If it's against their religion to watch YouTube, why waste effort on blocking it?

If it's a sin, nobody is going to be watching it anyways, and the problem will take care of itself.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The US hasn't done a lot for internet freedom itself, lately.

My USA Government is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.They talk a big talk about "Internet Censorship" to the Public but we on Ars Technica know that behind the back of the Citizen is a Big Man Who Carries A Big Stick.And that Stick is there to crack on our heads.US Gov Spies on us, does illegal Domain Name Seizures, Prosecutes innocent people on Internet IT Stuff, Tries to extradite Kim Dotcom and others on Bogus BS Charges...........................NEED I GO ON.

At first I was going to question the U.S.'s double standard we have with China, but for what its worth, the Chinese don't have leaders who listen to an invisible man. "Allah commanded us to..." and insert any horrific situation.

One, your comment is irrelevant to the subject - this is not a religious discussion that you must bring in your own preconceived assumptions about a religion or its beliefs; two, Allah is not a man, you should really get your facts straightened there; and three, how is 'their' following laws laid by Allah (in their book Quran) any different than 'your' following the laws laid down by your 'constitution'? If anything, they can at least claim to be superior on the grounds that Allah is the creator and a superior entity. What makes you 'believe' yours can be superior to theirs?

Obviously the US government is not as bad as a lot of other governments in this regard but with cases like Megaupload the US government isn't exactly saintly itself.

I was thinking the exact same thing. We are obviously not the worst offender, but really have some nerve criticizing others for censorship when we do the same, and continue to try and push through new laws to increase it. I think we are also full of ourselves for trying to push democracy on other sovereign nations given how things tend to work in the U.S.

Some would say this is a backwards-ass country that only knows to solve problems with bombs.

Ironic that you don't realize is that it is exactly the kind of post you just made, without any fear of reprisal from your government, that the Iranian government actively persecutes. In Iran, were you to make similar statements, who knows when a midnight knock on your door would simply make you disappear?

The first amendment of the US Constitution forbids government reprisal against people who merely speak against it. No such law exists in Iran. In fact, in Iran the government can pretty much do what it wants to its citizens with impunity. Iran is also a Theocracy, never forget--something *also* forbidden by US law separating church and state. It's actually illegal for the head of a religious institution in the US to also serve as President, etc. In Iran, the very opposite is what is legal--if you aren't a Mullah you cannot occupy the top positions in the Iranian government (Supreme Leader, etc.)

People who think to directly compare the US government to Iran need to grab a passport and apply for permission from the Iranian government to visit Iran for a few weeks. Assuming you would survive your stay there without being beheaded, kidnapped, or imprisoned as a spy, I guarantee you would no longer hold the opinions you do upon your return. It's sad, really, to see Americans ignorant of the rich heritage of personal freedoms they've been bequeathed simply because they think American life is the norm everywhere. Ignorance of that degree is difficult to quantify or explain.

No government is perfect, and the US government is no exception. However, when it comes to basic human rights, the US government is by comparison to Iran, heaven on earth, imo...

Obviously the US government is not as bad as a lot of other governments in this regard but with cases like Megaupload the US government isn't exactly saintly itself.

I was thinking the exact same thing. We are obviously not the worst offender, but really have some nerve criticizing others for censorship when we do the same, and continue to try and push through new laws to increase it. I think we are also full of ourselves for trying to push democracy on other sovereign nations given how things tend to work in the U.S.

But that's just it--the US doesn't come close to "doing the same".... (See my post above.) As far as democracy itself is concerned, many other nations in the world also practice it. Among all the forms of government that I have ever studied, none is kinder to its citizens than democracy. So would I support the people of a country like Iran who want to overthrow their Theocratic dictatorships? You 'betch'a... Every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

As much as I disagree with the Megaupload conduct engaged in by our government--the FBI is wasted on crap like this--there's simply no comparison between that and the human-rights abuses of Iran, a Theocratic dictatorship which accords women all the value of camel dung, among the many other colorful and barbaric medieval behaviors the Iranian government engages in.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The US hasn't done a lot for internet freedom itself, lately.

I'm going to single you out among the other anti-U.S. hipstercats here. Pardon me.

The U.S. has done a helluva lot for Internet freedom. For all the griping about music and video piracy, Youtube is still online. Go youtube "Star wars a new hope part 1" and look at how many pirate links come up.

How dare you say anything good about the USA? Don't you know they shit all over the internet and repress any views they don't like? If not just look at all these posts on a board run by an American company and hosted in the USA and you'll see how much the USA hates internet freedom.

WaltC: Wow you should actually visit Europe or Canada sometime... I think it might be an eye opener for you. They got this crazy thing called socialism there... much better than democracy! I'm surprised you never "studied" it!

"Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services," said Mohammad Reza Miri.

Ooooh, I see, I completely misunderstood. See, I thought you guys were dicking around with something that you had no understanding of. I thought you guys were basically script kiddies, messing around with variables and settings that you had no even basic understanding of by doing a little Google research. I thought you guys were doing something that only the first or or second percentile of the worlds' governments thought was okay. I thought that you were abusing the people's right to view information, which you have certainly done in the past.

I had no idea you guys were actually trying to... oh wait.. I guess that actually was what you were trying to do and I did understand perfectly.